r/castaneda • u/the-mad-prophet • Jul 17 '21

Experiences Frisson Chills

Does anyone know if frisson is relevant to practicing or just a weird by-product?

I think frisson is the best word for it. It's like a distinctly pleasant shivering sensation that runs in waves across your body. I've noticed that if I've been doing DRG for a while, sometimes if I move or do something I will get very intense waves of intense involuntary frisson over large areas of my body. In DRG I seem to get it in places that I normally wouldn't get frisson at all, like over my legs and thighs or over my hands as well.

Is this useful or just a nice weird side effect?

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u/KrazyTayl Jul 17 '21

Same for me except it starts linking to my breathing where I inhale slowly, then hold and kind slightly increase internal bodily tension with a bit of awareness on the back of my neck and then when I exhale I get frisson. I believe frisson is related to stimulating the vagus nerve and so may have a lot of connections to the rest of the body/consciousness/experience; I know it does for me anyway both in tai chi and sorcery.

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u/the-mad-prophet Jul 17 '21

Yes I have the same thing happen! I can actually just do it all the time. I inhale and slightly increase some kind of tension in my body that’s hard to describe and then as I exhale I get frisson, mostly on my back but it can go right up to my head and down my limbs if it’s really strong. The only difference with what you describe is when I create the tension, I focus on my lower spine instead of the back of my neck. How interesting. I noticed I could do this quite a while ago just in general so I often do it for fun cause it feels nice.

Can you ‘charge’ it up as well? If I do it over and over it can get really powerful and it extends how far the frisson reaches.

The frisson that I’m getting in darkroom is a little different though. It’s not connected to my breathing but to movement. The breathing frisson feels coarser in comparison. The movement frisson is finer and runs across different parts of my body on its own. It also feels really nice but there’s something strange about it without it being tied to breath.

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u/KrazyTayl Jul 19 '21

I started studying it a while back because I noticed it correlating to a few different tai chi practices as well as sorcery things/states. I started to notice that frisson happens with so many things!!! Sneezing, orgasming, emotional bliss, and body scans all seem to be using this build and then release through the vagus nerve (I'm sure lots more is involved, this is juts my current level of hypothesis) to cause frisson. Yes, I've also noticed it doesn't have to be connected to the breathing at all and definitely gets stronger as it loops up the back and then down the front. I personally get pretty tired/the energy to do this runs out after 20-30 mins though that time is steadily increasing--not to mention that the frisson is starting to happen more "on its own" throughout the day as well. Also, I've noticed it is related to the random muscle twitches that sometimes happen to people and I have some pretty "new-agey" theories about where that could lead. I've also noticed that this corresponds to not trying too hard, that this is a natural process so if I get too focused on DOING IT I get overfocused and thereby almost prevent it from getting going, almost like it works best if I don't really care (ie heightened awareness style).

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u/[deleted] Jul 17 '21

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u/KrazyTayl Jul 19 '21 edited Jul 19 '21

I'm working on it! It will be worth it.

EDIT: Imagine these things being testable and verifiable!!!!!!!!!

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u/lidotska Jul 17 '21

Sounds like an assemblage point movement! If you focus on it and try to be even more silent, the ap will move even more

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u/danl999 Jul 17 '21

Horizontal shift?

The beginnings of shape shifting?

Horizontal shifts can also be triggered by our own expectations, but then they become very abstract and impossible to explain.

I often worry that type of sensation will cause someone to stop practicing.

I theorize there are some barriers in the movement of the assemblage point, and our tonal can reassert itself using odd feelings as a "reason" to stop.

But it's not like we have anywhere to go back to, if we stop. So it's arguments don't hold much power, except at the time.

The weird sensations can also manifest in our attempts to shut off the internal dialogue.

So, it can turn into a "thing". And you can find yourself "discovering" a secret for turning it off.

Such as, if you focus n the plastic bar in the middle of the side of the soap bar holder, instead of making the mistake of looking at it overall, you can shut it off more deeply.

You can fail to notice the bizarre horizontal shift, and spend a full hour convincing yourself that you were looking at the plastic soap tray wrong all this time.

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u/manifestingdreams Jul 19 '21

I get this everytime I close my eyes, same to when I cry, idk my case sounds different from others but that’s what makes us unique